Trucker Warren, From The Begining

Hello everyone:
It's been a week since my last post. I have been running as a team for the last week with a guy I went to school with for the last week and we have been running pretty much non-stop. I barely get any sleep and it finally caught up to us yesterday. I slept for 16 hours straight. We picked up our last load in Georgia 10 hours early and decided to take the time to recoup from the long hard loads we have been running.
I have got to say that CR England has exceeded my expectations by 10 fold. I was talking to my driver manager (DM) last week and I happened to mention about how dirty the truck was and that I spent hours cleaning it. I also mentioned that I took a few days to get the truck as it was in California. My DM was on vacation when all this happened. So he gave me travel pay of $150 and a cleaning fee of $50. Can you believe it? I wasn't really expecting it, but how nice it is to know that they are willing to go the extra distance for you. Every problem I have had has been solved within minutes. I've missed fuel stops and sent in a call on the QualCom and twice they sent me to the Truck Stop I was sitting at. If I have any issues at night, after hours handles it promptly.
Remember last week when I was talking about how I got sent to the wrong place for a pickup in Kent WA.? They paid me 175 deadhead miles for that. I have a great DM and it will be sad to lose him when I leave the Q-Fleet. I hope I get another great Dm. maybe I'll just have to stay in Q-Fleet (hahaha) NOT. Well, sometime next week I will be going back to solo driving as I find it way to hard to sleep while someone else is driving. Besides, I run hard and I am some what of a perfectionist so it would be hard for me to find someone that I would be compatible with.
I wanted to say thanks to all of you that Email me and make comments here on the blog. It helps to know that you are out there reading this.

Category: General

Well, today was drop 1 of 3 to Wal-Mart. I have been running under this load since Monday. It's funny to think how much trip planning it takes to get it there on time. There are so many obstacles to overcome, so many things that can put a damper on your day. Yesterday I came across a detour that after about 5 miles had no more signs. It reminded me of desert racing, they mark the course with ribbon and sometimes the ribbon gets torn up and blows away. Some times the only navigation you have is a dust cloud off in the distance from another rider. You will be riding for what seems like forever before you find a marker that lets you know you are on track.
I grabbed a spur and it ended up dropping me back on the 35/29 but unbeknown to me, past my connector. Not to worry though, I was supposed to land in Springfield, MO. and instead I landed in Joplin about 30 miles away. So I camped out for the night just outside of Springfield. My plan for today should have only taken about 5 hours giving me 2 hours to spare. Being new and all, I didn't realize that it would take so long to get thru the Ozarks. Then I went north on 25 instead of south, there was road construction and it came up on me before I could grab the interchange, so I thought if I grabbed the north ramp I could just come back around. Well, it was 12 miles before I could get off the interstate and get turned around. Then there was traffic in Memphis. I stopped once for about 5 minutes to make a sandwich and then it was eat on the run. I don't even want to talk about how I had to pee.
I slid into the Wal-Mart with 10 minutes to spare. It amazing that after 2400 miles it could come down to 10 minutes, talk about tight.
I bet some of you readers have similar stories, click on the comment button below and tell me about it.

Category: General

This first week has been "Balls to the Wall". The load I am under right now has 3 drops and 7 P.O. # for Wal-Mart. There was a mix up as to where it picked up. The load assignment pointed to Kent, WA. but only gave me an hour to get there (175 miles) from Portland after my drop off on Sunday. I was asking how I was going to do that for 2 days. Finally, after hours called for me and said that I could pick up at any time on Sunday. I asked for local directions and was told to call the shipper as there were none. The shipper gave me directions to Kent, WA. and when I got there they said they didn't have the load that it was at a cold storage in Woodland, WA. 150 miles back the other way. To make a long story short, it all got worked out.
I have been apprehensive as to how my company will deal with problems and how they will treat me when I am having them. I am happy to report that they have been right on top of things and even got me the extra miles for driving to Kent. I've heard so many bad things, but so far so good. To be fair, I have also heard allot of good things as well, but it's always the bad that sticks out in your mind.
This week has been a tremendous learning experience. I have had to learn to deal with things that I never ran across with my trainer. It's like sink or swim. I know I have been anti-team, but I have a friend from school that is going to meet me at my final stop on this run and we are going to do the "Q Fleet" together. He's a cool guy and we get along, so I'll give it a shot. We will make more money then if by our selves.
Last Saturday I did the Radio show again with The Trucker Doc. I really enjoy doing the show.
Well, that's it for now.

Category: General

Well, as you might expect, today was a big learning experience for me. What's that saying about "Murphy's Law"? Up yours Murphy. I had to laugh. anyway. I didn't make it too far today because things took awhile, so I am sitting at the TA just outside of Barstow, CA. I will be rolling again at 3am. I spent some time trying to figure out how to make this trip work (time wise). they gave me another load that picks up 1 hour after this one drops. The only problem is that there is 175 miles between the two. I have to call dispatch in the morning and get it straightened out. The next load has 3 drops and ends up in Alabama.
Well, gotta hit the sack if I'm going to be up and driving by 3am.

Category: General

Well, it's been a week since my last post. I went to Salt Lake City, UT. to go thru solo qualifying upgrade. I passed everything and was given a choice to go either C.A.T. or Q. I’ve mentioned C.A.T. before, that's where I ride with a lease operator for 28 days and then I can go as a solo company driver or a lease operator. In Q Fleet, I was able to go solo and it'll take a little longer to achieve the same thing as the C.A.T. program. I have to accumulate 12,000 miles and then I can do what I want. Essentially I am a company driver right now and get paid miles. There are training modules that I will get paid for also.
They assigned me a truck and it was in Mira Loma, CA. I rode with another driver from Salt Lake. The truck was a filthy mess and it had a multitude of problems. The AC wasn't working as well as the radio. There were other mechanical issues as well. The mattresses smelled like cat urine. I turned the truck in to maintenance and they fixed every thing, gave me a brand new radio and new mattresses. The AC blows ice cold now. I had to clean the truck out myself as they didn't have a detail shop at the Mira Loma yard.
It took me all day today to get this rig clean but, now it’s spotless. I was surprised to read the messages on the QualCom that the guy before me had made about the AC problems. I guess he quit over it. I had no problems getting them to fix it or the other stuff.
So here I sit at the TA in Ontario, CA. waiting to go back to the yard in the morning and grab an empty trailer. From there I am going to Oxnard, CA. to pick up bananas which deliver on Sunday in Portland OR. the schedule is tight but I can make it.
Sorry there have been no pictures as of late, but I will get caught up on those in a few days.

Category: General

Hi All:
Wow. The past week has just flown by. It has been a non-stop, action packed week. Today is Thursday and I will only be on this truck for 2 more days (thank god), then it is back to Salt Lake City, UT. where I will solo upgrade. After that I will spend another 28 days with a lease operator. I will be earning actual mileage pay while out on this run. When that is complete, I will then be able to go solo (I can't wait).
It gets a little cramped with 2 people on 1 truck; it starts to wear thin on your nerves sometimes. I finished driving at 1:15am this morning and got to sleep around 2:30. But I woke up to the sound of the engine revving up, then down, up and down. I started thinking "Oh Crap, my trainer is falling asleep". So I drew the curtains back and sure enough, we were only doing about 35 mph. I shouted "HEY, IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?" he promptly replied that it was. About 15 minutes later he woke me up and said it was my time to drive. Hmm, he usually drives more then 4 hours. Now it's about 5:00 in the morning, I feel like crap, there is no coffee and we are on a tight schedule. I got behind the wheel and he informs me that there is no where to stop and we have got to make time.
I was pissed off and happy at the same timem, mad that I didn't get any sleep but happy we weren't going to die. About 15 minutes into my run, I can't keep my eyes open. I am afraid to wake him up and say anything as he would be upset with me, but at the same time the words from all the instructors at school kept ringing in my ears, "better late then never" "there's no load worth your life or the lives of others". I decided that I had to get off the road. This was a lousy position to be in. "I'm getting off at the next exit, no matter what is there". As I approach the next exit I see a Pilot, "Thank you Lord". My trainer wakes up and asks what I am doing sharply, I sharply replied "I can't keep my eyes open, I am getting some coffee and walking around for a bit" He only replied to just pull thru the fuel island.
I got out and walked around for a bit, then got some coffee and a snack. But the walking around had the best effect. After going to the bathroom, I was wide awake.
What a scary morning it was today. I learned something thou. Plan your trips well and get plenty of rest. If it were just me, I would not have put myself in that position in the first place.
Final note; I really can't stand my trainer; he has an extremely abrasive personality. He has a daughter my age and treats me like I'm his son (not in a good way). You can't have any type of conversation with him because he thinks he knows all. Sometimes I will ask him a question and he will respond in anger like it was a stupid question. It has been all I can do to keep my mouth shut for the last 28 days. I figured that I can trust him driving and be able to sleep (at least until this morning), and that meant more then trying to be friends. I could do a whole segment on that subject. There are times he has been down right cruel. I'm not trying to scare anyone from doing this. I have talked to my other classmates about there trainers, one guy said that his trainer buys all the food, another one bought him shoes (long story). In fact, most of them have been getting along pretty well. Is it just me? I didn't complain to CR England because I thought things would work themselves out. I have a two page list of all the things that have happened. I'm not sure what to do with it. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens with my C.A.T. driver.

Category: General

Well, it's July 4th about 2am and I'm sitting in the sleeper as we are rolling down I40 in AR. It was pretty cool driving thru MO. this evening as there were fireworks going off left and right. I just wanted to say Happy 4th. I have to get some sleep.

Category: General